Timing is everything. I was reminded of the importance of timing on a call yesterday with my daughter as she told me about a Shark Tank episode she watched from 2009. In this particular episode, there was a woman who pitched "fashionable face masks" to which the Sharks had a quite immediately negative reaction. Even though Swine Flu had been in the news around that time, Kevin O'Leary (aka Mr. Wonderful) told Irina Blok, the maker of the masks, that Swine Flu was "an epidemic that came and went" and that she "would need a new epidemic" to get any kind of traction with this product. AAAANNNNNDDDD... fast-forward to 2020. Can I say again that timing is everything? And last year, when asked about the initial response to her pitch on Shark Tank, Blok said... "If we could predict the future, we could all be rich." I don't know if her statement is necessarily true. Well... I think we COULD all be rich but I don't think we all WOULD be rich because capitalizing on an opportunity, even when you know it's coming, requires discipline and dedicated action designed to address whatever the problem of the moment is (or will be). And now, I think I will repeat what I said at the beginning of this week... circumstance creates opportunity.
I never pray for bad circumstances, but I know that bad circumstances are sometimes required to move us to action in a certain direction. The pain of regret... of missed opportunities... of circumstances we would rather pray away.. these are often what it takes to put our hearts in a posture of obedience to doing what He has been asking us to do, possibly for some time. I also know that, sometimes, we are supposed to take action that will prepare us for the circumstances that are to come. The things we put off... the projects on which we procrastinate... the pieces of the puzzle that won't find their way to us until we are on purpose about pursuing our calling... these are the opportunities that will pass us by if we aren't about doing the work today that will prepare us for the circumstances that are on their way. So while I repeated myself from Monday, I will do it again when I say "Timing is everything". Well... maybe not EVERYTHING... but if you don't get going on what you know you are supposed to do then when the time is right, you won't be ready. Just sayin'! And one last thought regarding timing and circumstances and the goals and visions we have for this life...
Don't forget there is an appointed time when our time on this earth is done. As much as we want to capitalize on all the circumstances and moments this life will bring to (or maybe... throw at) us, don't forget to prepare for the circumstances that will bring to us the time that is appointed when we will meet Him face to face. We won't know when it is... but we know it is sure to come.
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, by My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, and marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." - Matthew 24:36-39
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